There have been about 120 alleged murders and 388 attacks recorded in 2017. The number of attacks was only 290 in the previous year.

Most numbers of attacks were related to the mining sector, followed by agribusiness and renewables.

The survey says that judicial intimidation was used to suppress opposition in 42% of the cases. Companies based in UK, US, China, Canada and France were most likely to use prevent human rights protests.

“Our research highlights that companies do play a significant role in attacks on human rights defenders – the first time that this data has been systematically collected,” Ana Zbona from the Business and Human Rights Resource Center told The Guardian.